Jason Prini .com

18 months ago if you told someone the hottest niche in mobile computing in 2008/09 would be sub $500 mini notebooks called NETBOOKS they’d call you crazy. Subnotebooks typically cost a hefty premium over typically larger notebooks. I still remember ooohing and awwwing over those first $4000 Sony 505 notebooks in the late 90s.

Netbooks (Asus EeePC, MSI Wind, etc) are not as feature-rich as those high-end subnotebooks. But for most “typical” people netbooks will fill 80% of their needs. Plus they’re really cheap. Perfect second computers.

But my dream second computer is still yet to appear. My iPhone handles most of my comms needs, but I still would like an A5 sized, touch/wacom-digitizer screen that has a browser and an Alias Sketch like app to replace my Macbook. Oh, and it should cost less than $500.

I don’t know if there are enough people like me (who go through at least 4 sketchbooks a year) to support a device like this. So I might have to wait another 10-15 years for on-demand custom designed gadget printing to appear. Or maybe if the Techcrunch gadget takes off, enough people like me will get together and crowd-source it into existence.

I’ve found myself using my laptop less and less these days. My iPhone fills in nicely and I really find myself preferring it to a laptop in many situations.

I still use my workstation for work, and I wouldn’t think of ditching it for something like an iPhone (yet).

But the fact is, unless I’m at my workstation, I use my iPhone to surf the web. I would say if you looked at all the hours I spend online, minus work, the majority of it is on my iPhone. That’s an interesting change.

If Apple modified their NDA requirements on iPhone development I would be all over it. The device provides a really compelling experience, offers live data acquisition (position, light, gps sensors), ubiquitous network connectivity, and a fairly efficient (if a tad too strict) software market. It’s the start of something really great.

In the next few years there very well could be 50 million iPhones in use. That’s something awesome.

Techcrunch is reporting that soon, maybe as soon as this week, Facebook will open source it’s code.

This would be a good move for Facebook, who has to constantly be aware that they can lose their users even faster than they got them. Facebook use in Canada is down from last fall when it was just exploding.

Social networks are ephemeral. They are not static and must be nurtured to grow. As these systems mature there will be a point where the “Parents” have to let them go out on their own, turning the private platform network inside-out and letting it grow free online.

This WILL happen. It must. MySpace was too overprotective of it’s network and refused to let it go free when it should have, now it’s not nearly as popular as it was when it was ready to leave the nest. MySpace is a 40 year old living at his parents house technologically.

I’m excited to see how opening Facebook might affect the social media wars in the coming months.